Teaching elementary poetry writing

THE new curriculum demands that teachers teach poetry writing? Even at Primary level? Yes, even at Grade 4, 5 or 6. Poetry at this level is very basic and less of a jigsaw-saw puzzle that we know poetry to be; some of it even verging on the brinks of artful madness.

It is important to know that you cannot begin by teaching how to write poetry at any level. It begins with reading and thinking (like a poet), then writing. Reading is important because you must be able to follow the beat, the rhythm, the stresses and correct pauses.

The way you read helps you to follow the thinking, development and meaning of any poem. (Remember some poems are a mere fascination of sounds, repetitions and beautiful rhyme scheme with hardly any serious theme or story. May be it is a mere admiration of something or some idea.)

The more you correctly read any poem, the chances of you easily identifying its poetic devices and eventually its meaning.

We do not expect children’s poems to be complex in any way or form; meaning or structure. Child-poets are children. Allow them to be children. Children can be poets/though children are not necessarily poets. (Notice the poetic nature of these statements.) From this you can see that even prose can be poetic too, as much as poetry can be prosaic.

Here are a few fundamentals (obvious / basic things to take into account) when teaching children

how to write poetry:

◆ You must first understand what poetry is as opposed to prose.

◆ In prose you think in full sentences, whereas a poet thinks in clauses and phrases.

◆ Poetry is word-economics. This means in poetry you write compositions or stories that are highly compressed. Whether you are narrating (telling a story) or describing a feeling or something, whatever your intention, you think, write or express yourself in compressed clauses and phrases. You have no time to meander (go round and round in long sentences and paragraphs.) That remains prose no matter how beautiful it may be. ◆ Poetry follows certain specific basics: For example, you can use rhyme scheme, which is a common classical poetic device in English poetry. There are three major types of rhyme: (a) Initial rhyme (found at the beginning of the verse lines. (b) Internal rhyme (found in the middle of verse lines) and (c) Endrhyme (as the name suggests, found at the end of verse lines.) ◆ In the lines of the verse, the writer (poet) can choose to repeat consonant sounds (all letters of the alphabet minus the 5 vowels a, e, i, o, u.) This kind of rhythmic repetition is called Alliteration. He or she (the poet) can choose to repeat vowel sounds. This kind of repetition is called Assonance. Both serve to achieve a rhythmic effect which gives the verse mellif luence... qualities of a song. And children particularly love reciting (sort of singing) these verses. Expert poets or simply talented or gifted poets compose music out of poems by adding instruments and musical voice.

Let me give you a little poem I have written for you. See if you can identify all I have said above: Suggest a suitable title for the poem.

Erick Knight the night rider, Erick Knight, the night lover. Couldn’t fight except on radio, Didn’t incite or hate on radio except play mellifluent love songs on radio.

Brilliant, vibrant, eloquent, pleasant, Erick Knight the night rider was. Finally left Zim-ZBC and ZTV one rider poorer,

Flew to Britain to rule the UK radio ‘n be richer.

There to live like a radio hermit on foreign land,

‘N be a radio night rider again on the green land.